Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The
workers of Eziconnect Philippines decried the furtive removal of computers from
their call center which had shutdown without due notice. They revealed that on
December 24 several men took out six computers, a day after the Department of
Labor and Emploment (DOLE) made a site visit. Fifteen employees filed a
complaint for illegal closure one day after Eziconnect suddenly shuttered on
December 21.

Gerard
Escubido, one of the 15 Eziconnect employees, exclaimed that “Instead of a
Santa Claus bearing gifts on Christmas eve, here we have Ebenezer Scrooges stealing
assets that can be used to defray out claims for unpaid wages and separation
benefits. We have identified the perpetrators who removed the Eziconnect
computers and we also have a suspect who masterminded it.”

“We
call on Eziconnect owner Rodney Kafer to honor obligations to his workers who
have loyally served the company for the past several years,” added Escubido.
Kafer is a former Australian rugby player and Fox Sports commentator.

Dennis
Derige, Partido Manggagawa-Cebu spokesperson who is assisting the Eziconnect
employees, stated that “We will duly notify DOLE-7 of the incident and demand appropriate
action once the government offices open after New Year’s day. It seems
Eziconnect did not just shutdown illegally but is also a runaway shop.”

Aside
from half a month of salaries and separation pay, the Eziconnect workers are
demanding financial assistance and damages.

Derige
insisted on prompt action from the government as the illegal shutdown of
Eziconnect was the fifth case in Metro Cebu that they have encountered in the last
four years. He cited the earlier cases of Direct Access, Cordia, Leadamorphosis
and Blue Connect in which a total of about one thousand workers were adversely
affected by sudden cloures.

“Through
the help of PM partylist, the workers of the four call centers got favorable
settlements or awards from the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). Although
in the case of Leadamorphosis workers, they have yet to receive a cent of the
P36 million NLRC decision because the owners are in the USA,” Derige
elaborated.

The partylist
group reiterated its request that government require BPO’s to put up a bond to compensate
workers’ money claims in case of sudden or illegal closure. “Call centers
should set aside two months worth of salaries of all workers they intend to
hire which will be used to defray unpaid salaries, benefits and separation pay,”
Derige explained.

Monday, December 28, 2015

The
labor partylist Partido Manggagawa (PM) today asked presidentiables to spell out
an agenda for BPO workers in the context of the sudden closure of a call center
in Metro Cebu. PM and the group Inter-Call Center Association of Workers
(ICCAW) disclosed that it has come across five call centers with more than a
thousand workers in total that illegally shutdown in the last four years,
including the latest, Eziconnect Philippines.

“It
is not all sunshine in the BPO industry. There is a dark side to the call
center sector. The government must use its ‘Force’ to ensure protection for workers
in the BPO industry,” insisted Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

He
added that “Is there a presidentiable brave enough to be a jedi to safeguard peace
and justice for call center workers?”

PM is advocating strict government
regulation of the BPO industry to weed out fly by night companies that are not
financially equipped to run the business and does not respect labor rights. The
partylist group is also calling for industry-wide standards for wages, benefits
and entitlements that must be well above the minimum mandated by law and
commensurate to the profitable dollar-earning nature of the call center
industry.

ICCAW meanwhile aims to be a voice and advocate for call center and BPO
workers so that the almost a million employees in the industry who are entirely unorganized
can enjoy protection.

Earlier,
PM called for government to require BPO’s to put up a bond for workers claims
in case of sudden or illegal closure. The partylist group is demanding that
call centers set up a bond equivalent to two months wages of all employees they
intend to hire to defray unpaid salaries, benefits and separation pay.

Gerard
Escubido, one of the Eziconnect workers, revealed that the company shutdown
last December 21 without due notice, leaving its 30 employees with unpaid
wages, 13th month pay and separation benefits. Its owner, Australian
rugby player and Fox Sports commentator, Rodney Kafer, has not communicated
with its workers about the company’s obligations.

Fortaleza
disclosed that some 120 workers of another call center, Leadamorphosis, that illegally
shutdown a week after New Year’s day of 2014 in Metro Cebu, won a Php 36
million award from the National Labor Relations Commission but has yet to
receive a centavo as its owner is in the USA.

“Eziconnect
must not become another Leadamorhosis. Thus we reiterate, who among the
presidentiables has a platform to cater to the rights and welfare of BPO employees?,”
Fortaleza exclaimed.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Eziconnect wokers face off with their manager at DOLE-7 mediation meeting

The labor
partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) called on the government to require BPO
companies companies to put up a bond that will be used to pay workers claims as
another call center illegally shuts down in Cebu. Eziconnect Philippines Inc.
of Mandaue City closed abruptly last December 21 leaving its 30 employees
jobless this christmas season with unpaid salaries and separation pay.

“Unfortunately
Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and he is an Australian. The irresponsible owners of Eziconnect
have stolen christmas from their hardworking workers,” declared Rene Magtubo,
PM chair and one of its partylist bets. Eziconnect is owned by Australian
Rodney Kafer, a former rugby player and present Fox Sports commentator.

According
to the group Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW), which is
assisting the Eziconnect workers together with PM, this latest illegal closure
is the fifth in the last four years that it has encountered.

A
day after the closure, Eziconnect workers filed a complaint at the Department
of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 7 office. Yesterday a meeting was called by
DOLE-7 where the workers faced off with their Filipino manager. The Eziconnect
workers are demanding one month of unpaid salaries, 13th month pay,
separation benefits and financial assistance.

Gerard Escobido, one of the Eziconnect
employees, said that “We had loyally worked for the company for the last
several years and we feel betrayed that its owners, Kafer among others, would
run away from its obligations to us.”

Magtubo
called on the government to
require BPO's to put up a bond equivalent to two months salaries of all workers
they intend to hire which will be used to defray wages, benefits and separation
pay in case of sudden or illegal closure.

ICCAW
and PM had earlier helped workers of call centers Direct Access, Cordia, Leadamorphosis
and Blue Connect, all based in Cebu, in their fight for unpaid money claims. In
all cases, workers had won awards or settlement.

When
Direct Access illegally shutdown in 2012, its workers fought to get their separation
pay and were also granted employment in a new call center. ICCAW was formed as
a result of the pioneering fight of Direct Access workers. Meanwhile in the
case of Leadamorphosis, workers won a P36 million award two years ago.

“The
BPO is sunshine industry according to the government but it must do more to
ensure workers rights and welfare are protected. Since it is a profitable dollar
earning industry, employers must provide its workers with above average wages
and benefits,” argued Magtubo.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

There is systemic continuity in labor rights violations under different administrations and under the ‘tuwid na daan’, these violations have simply gone worse.

In a statement, the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the unabated problem of extrajudicial killings in the country but at the same time it underlined the need to recognize forms of human rights violations that are more systemic and pervading in nature.

PM joined the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) in celebrating the International Human Rights Day in a march of several hundred rights defenders and advocates from Espana UST to Mendiola. Some of the rallyists were dressed in bloodied shirts and dresses to symbolize the persistence of human rights violations in the country.

The group said the country’s compliance to the UN clusters of economic and socio-cultural rights (ESCR) is very dismal as most of its policies dealt with trade and investments rather than with raising the Filipinos’ quality of life.

“Labor rights, which include the rights to enjoy freedom and quality standard of living are undermined by economic policies that provide utmost partiality to business and the free market, said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza.

According to Fortaleza, labor conractualization as one form, is an epidemic that kills the freedom of workers to associate and to get fair share of economic benefits from their bosses such as the living wage provided under the Constitution.

He explained further that the harsh picture of inequality in the country, with a handful of families in control of more than half of our GDP, is the logical outcome of this systemic failure to uphold human rights.

“Precarious employment is not as controversial as the 700 or 1,700 souls that suffered under Rodrigo Duterte’s hand but it is as lethal as other policies that deny millions of people the meaning of good life,” said Fortaleza.

More than half of the country’s 41 million labor force work under precarious working conditions characterized by low paying, irregular, and informal work arrangements. They also are burdened by high prices and the poor state of social services in the country.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Nationwide rallies by labor groups on Bonifacio Day raised the twin workers issues of living wages and regular jobs. With the elections looming, the partylist group Partido Manggagawa (PM) challenged presidential candidates to heed the workers clamor.

Members of PM ripped copies of temporary employment contracts and pay slips with withholding taxes in a symbolic reenactment of Bonifacio’s tearing of the hated cedula that started the Katipunan’s revolution against Spanish colonial rule.

“We condemn the epidemic of contractualization perpetrated by capitalists to demolish labor standards and lambast the government for killing the proposed tax cuts that would have raised the take home pay of workers,” Magtubo argued.

PM joined other workers groups in the Nagkaisa labor coalition in a several thousand-strong march from UST Espana to Mendiola. Mobilizations in cities like Cebu, Bacolod, Tacloban, Davao and General Santos picketed ticketing offices of Philippines Airlines in a show of solidarity for 117 employees who were victims of a recent mass layoff. The union Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) has a pending notice of strike over the latest retrenchment.

Magtubo explained that “Giving tax breaks to wage earners is not a loss to the government because increased take home pay leads to bigger spending for goods and services. Such will spur growth in manufacturing, agriculture and services sector, and thus enlarge tax collection by the government.”

With the Paris COP21 talks on climate change about to start, the Bonifacio Day appeals by workers also included calls for climate justice, climate jobs and just transition. “Labor’s demand for decent work is integral to adaptation and mitigation as people with regular employment and social insurance are better prepared to face recurring disasters,” Magtubo elaborated.

There was also an internationalist angle to the local celebration of Bonifacio Day as workers of Korean companies based in the country expressed solidarity with the Korean labor movement which has been the subject of raids and arrests by the government of Park Geun-Hye. Placards signed by the workers unions of Tae Sung Phils. in Cavite and KEPCO Cebu read “Solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Korean labor movement! Stop the raids on union offices and arrests of labor leaders! No to state repression!”

PM vowed to continue solidarity actions for the embattled Korean labor movement even as the group criticized Korean companies in the country for union busting and unfair treatment of workers. The partylist group cited the labor disputes at Tae Sung and KEPCO Cebu and also the deaths of dozens of workers at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic to buttress its point.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Workers believe that living on low-carbon diet is the only chance for Mother Earth to survive the climate crisis. And the only way to achieve lower carbon economy is by significant cutback in industrial activities that emit megatons of greenhouse gas (GHG) into the atmosphere.

The partylist Partido Manggagawa (PM) expressed this view as it joined the multisectoral March for Climate Justice this morning at the Quezon Memorial Circle, together with labor coalition Nagkaisa.

Among the workers’ demands were climate jobs and climate resilient communities as well as decent work as they believe that people with regular employment and social insurance are better prepared to face recurring disasters.

Partido Manggagawa, however, believes that resilience is mere adaptation to lessen the impact of calamities and therefore cannot be considered as the ultimate solution to climate crisis.

“Capitalist industries created this crisis. The solution therefore lies on whether this world will continue living under capitalism or it maps the right path to solving this crisis,” said PM in a statement.

The group said a handful of industrial powers which contribute more than two-thirds of global GHG emissions will never give up their global trade position in oil and energy production, mining, car manufacture as well as their control of other hard industries that largely pollute the environment.

“They will just invest on ‘clean technology’, trade their carbon footprints, monetize nature by seizing control of the renewable energy market and then negotiate for business-as-usual bottom lines. Thus, the Paris negotiation may produce concrete national commitments this time but never will rich capitalist countries seek an end to climate crisis,” the group said.

According to PM, plotting a way towards the tamang daan (right path) in addressing the climate crisis requires a change to both the economic and political system.

“The crisis is really a question of power – of who decides what is good for whom? The capitalist ideology of free market, which in business translates to freedom of owners of capital to exploit labor and nature to gain profit to the max is a development hoax. It allows unlimited growth to corporations at the expense of people and nature.”

PM said under the tamang daan, people will be at the center of all development endeavours while nature will be consigned by the majority to common use for the common good of humanity.

“Workers do have a name for this tamang daan. Socialist parties in Latin America and Europe call it the 21st century socialism,” concluded PM.

Friday, November 27, 2015

The workers party list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) today condemned
the Aquino government for rejecting the proposed bill lowering income taxes as
it called on its members to join the Black Friday protest. “If Heneral Luna was
alive today, he will be part of the #BlackFriday protest while shouting ‘Punyeta
ang mataas na buwis sa manggagawa!’,” exclaimed Rene Magtubo, PM national chair
and one of its partylist bets for the coming elections.

Magtubo stated that PM members in factories are holding lunch break actions
today in support of the #BlackFriday protest called by groups pushing for lowering
of income taxes. “Factory workers in Metro Manila and the export zones in
Cavite and Cebu, and also members of the Philippine Airlines union PALEA are
participating in the #BlackFriday protest.” Magtubo explained.

PALEA members are holding pickets today at Philippine Airlines offices
at the airport to demand the reinstatement of 117 employees to be laid off on
November 30. Besides opposing the mass layoff, PALEA members are also raising
the call for lowering income taxes.

“Inclusive growth is just a marketing gimmick if it cannot be made
concrete by tax reform benefiting workers. Workers, as fixed income earners
subject to withholding taxes, carry the onerous burden of primarily financing
the coffers of the state but suffer from poor social services that are subject to
political patronage,” Magtubo elaborated.

He challenged presidential candidates to heed the clamor of workers for
progressive taxation and lowering of income taxes. “Mar Roxas’ alibi that tax
reform during the election season is not timely is a lame excuse. If daang
matuwid does not lead to tax reform then it is a deadend for workers,” Magtubo
argued.

PM vowed to push for tax breaks for workers as part of its electoral
platform. The labor partylist group’s “Apat na Dapat” platform includes lowering
of prices, living wages, regular jobs and quality public services. PM insists
public services must be funded from the proceeds of progressive taxation that
shifts the burden from workers and the poor to the rich and employers.

Friday, November 20, 2015

The
labor party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) denounced President Benigno
Aquino III for neglecting to raise urgent concerns of Filipino workers of
Korean-owned companies in the country to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye
at the just concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Media had
reported that Aquino vowed to protect some one million Koreans residing in the
Philippines as requested by Park.

Rene
Magtubo, PM national chair, stated that “As we expected, when President Aquino met
President Park, they talked about promoting trade and investments. Aquino spoke
not a word about protecting union rights and decent pay for workers despite many
ongoing labor rows involve Korean-owned factories in the Philippines.”

“On
the specific case of Korea’s state-owned KEPCO coal plant in Cebu, the Office
of the President had intervened to impose an assumption of jurisdiction (AJ) on
the planned strike against illegal dismissals and union busting. These
circumstances merit it being discussed between the two presidents if only to
resolve the long-running dispute,” Magtubo added.

Workers
from two Korean-owned companies now embroiled in labor disputes had challenged APEC
on the issue of labor rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal
factory Tae Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting
and have pending labor disputes.

Lowell
Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu Supervisors
Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve the labor
dispute. The KEPCO union filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair
dismissal of Sanchez. The planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an
AJ order so that it will not affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August.
KEPCO operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.

Meanwhile,
according to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association
(TEA), they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He
explained that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other
incidents of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a
strike vote within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a
strike seven days after a majority of union members authorize it through a
vote. Tae Sung is based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and
produces metal parts for the supply chain of multinational companies like
American Power Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar
and Siemens.

“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC
has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates
across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the
sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped
due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual
work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP
within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo ended.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

In a multisectoral rally today in
Manila, the labor party-list group Partido Manggagawa (PM) decried the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit for its “pro-business, anti-labor
record.” Several hundred members of PM and other sectoral groups coalesced
under the People’s Forum on APEC marched from UST to Liwasang Bonifacio in this
major anti-APEC protest. As of the moment, police have blocked the mobilization
in front of the Metropolitan Theater.

Rene
Magtubo, PM national chair, stated that “Sacrifices born by commuters, students
and workers since Monday in lost time due to heavy traffic and lost pay due to
holidays as part of the summit are emblematic of the anti-people essence of
capitalist globalization that lies at the heart of APEC. APEC is engaging in
double-speak as repression of workers’ rights by its member countries belies
its inclusive growth tagline. Inclusive growth in APEC countries is impossible
without respect for basic labor rights, including the right to unionize and
receive living wages.”

He cited
as an example that “When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and South Korean
President Park Geun-Hye meet at this APEC summit, they surely talk about
promoting trade and investments. But we doubt they will even speak about
protecting union rights and decent pay for workers of Korean-owned companies in
the Philippines. Yet many ongoing industrial disputes involve Korean-owned
factories in the Philippines.”

Workers
from two Korean-owned companies based in the country who are now embroiled in
labor rows are challenging the leaders of the countries on APEC’s track record
on workers’ rights. Employees of power company KEPCO-Cebu and metal factory Tae
Sung in Cavite have charged their managements with union busting and have
pending labor disputes.

According
to Charlie Piamonte, union president of Tae Sung Employees Association (TEA),
they filed a notice of strike last November 12 for union busting. He explained
that Tae Sung illegally fired union officer Joven Niviar, among other incidents
of harassment of union members. The union is planning to conduct a strike vote
within the next few days. Under the law, a union may launch a strike seven days
after a majority of union members authorize it through a vote. Tae Sung is
based in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario, Cavite and produces metal parts
for the supply chain of multinational companies like American Power
Conversion-Schneider Electric, Honda, Mitsubishi, Caterpillar and Siemens.

Meanwhile,
Lowell Sanchez, president of the KEPCO Cebu
Supervisors Association (KCSA-WSN-Sentro), challenged the government to resolve
the long-running labor row that is now the subject of an assumption of
jurisdiction (AJ) order from Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. The KEPCO union
filed a notice of strike last June for the unfair dismissal of Sanchez. The
planned strike of the KEPCO workers was stopped by an AJ order so that it will not
affect the APEC ministers meeting in Cebu last August. KEPCO is South Korea’s
state-owned power company and operates coal plants in Cebu and Batangas.

“KEPCO and Tae Sung are crystal clear examples of how APEC
has facilitated growth and profit for multinational corporations that operates
across borders. And they also fully illustrate how workers have born the
sacrifices for the phenomenal economic benefits that corporations have reaped
due to APEC. Workers across APEC countries contend with low pay, contractual
work and union suppression even as their labor created the doubling of real GDP
within APEC between 1989 and 2013,” Magtubo averred.

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Our Vision

Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

Our hopes rest in a future where social progress thrives not for the benefit of a few people but for the development and richness of the entire humankind. A society that is free from the chains of wage slavery and where oppression does not exist.

Our Mission

Forge the unity of the workers into an independent working class party to organize them as a potent political force in social transformation towards the advancement and protection of labor from the scourge of globalization, establishment of a genuine workers’ government and the emancipation of the working class from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery.

Workers Unite!

The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

We must organize politically.

This is our own challenge and we must vow not to shirk from it.

Our future is in our hands, in our unity, in our struggle, in our party.